French smart-container service provider Traxens has closed a financing round of €23m and acquired Next 4, a fast-growing start-up specialising in removable and reusable shipping-container trackers.

The two companies will combine efforts to market and develop their complementary tracking technology and their software applications to offer the best of their functionalities, such as shipment scheduling, collaborative risk management and analysis reports.

Since its launch in 2012, Traxens has become a reference in shipping container tracking. Through the collaboration established with the three main shipping lines, as shareholders, it introduced its smart container offering.

Its IoT technology enables access to comprehensive, precise and timely data for managing assets in transit anywhere in the world. In addition to tracking container geolocation, it detects shocks and monitors temperature and humidity, as well as the open-or-closed status of container doors.

Founded in Toulouse in 2018, Next 4 provides trackers that can be affixed to containers from point of origin to the final destination. This provides freight forwarders with tracking and gives customers round-the-clock real-time data on the status and location of their goods via sensors inside the containers.

Tens of thousands of Next 4 trackers have been adopted by freight forwarders such as Bolloré Logistics and DB Schenker. Multiple airlines have approved the latest version of the trackers, a smaller and more versatile device adapted to air freight.

The €23m financing round follows a series C funding round of approximately €20m in 2019. In addition to enabling Traxens to grow its smart container business worldwide, the new round will be used to build partnerships with some of the ecosystem’s major enterprises, such as container lessors, insurance companies and transport management systems.

As it moves into markets in the USA, South America and Asia, Traxens will also use the funds to expand its portfolio to address the increasing needs of freight forwarders and beneficial cargo owners for supply-chain transparency.

The addition of Next 4’s removable, reusable container-tracking systems is an expansion of Traxens’ business model to target addressable markets and, during this difficult period for the supply-chain industry, ensures almost immediate availability of at least one of the two technologies for Traxens’ customers. Shippers or their partners can either use a pre-equipped container or a removable cargo tracker on their containers, according to their needs.

“Integrating Next 4 into our company dramatically increases our ability to serve the growing needs of our customers as they digitise their business processes, while adding freight transparency, cargo security and goods integrity,” said Traxens CEO David Marchand. “We will bring to the market a comprehensive portfolio that gives our customers the flexibility to choose between a permanent or removable tracker, which is a unique option in our target markets.”

Next 4 will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Traxens and will remain in Toulouse. In addition to remaining as CEO of Next 4, Cédric Rosemont will serve as Traxens’ chief marketing officer.

“Joining the Traxens group enables us to market our innovation on an international scale and jointly develop new products with their team,” said Rosemont. “Our highly complementary solutions will meet the current and future challenges of shippers and their logistics providers. This means Next 4’s customers also can benefit from Traxens’ solutions, which are now being widely deployed by container owners.”